[无量香光 · 显密文库 · 手机站]
fowap.goodweb.net.cn
{返回首页}


The Diamond Sutra - Preface
 
{返回 A Buddhist Bible 文集}
{返回网页版}
点击:2735

p. 177

THE DIAMOND SUTRA

Based on William Gemmell's Translation Edited, Rearranged and Interpreted
p. 178 p. 179

Preface
THIS VERSION is based upon the English translation by William Gemmell, of the Chinese translation made by Kumarajiva, and was published by Kegan Paul in 1912. It is not an exact translation of the Chinese but is in a measure interpreted; it is very well done and proved to be more suitable for the present purpose than Max Muller's more scholarly one which was made direct from the Sanskrit original text.

There is no knowledge as to its author nor as to the date of its composition, but it must have been written about the beginning of the Christian era. It is the ninth section of a much larger treatise entitled: Mahaprajnaparamita Sutra. It is very metaphysical and difficult reading, but has always been very highly valued by Buddhist scholars. Apparently the text had become more or less confused long before the Chinese translations were made, so that in its present form there is little progressive unfolding of the theme. The Truth is there but it takes a scholar to dig it out. In this Version, the editor interprets its theme to be: The observance of the Six Paramitas in the light of the fundamental Dharma of emptiness and egolessness. With this in mind the Sutra has been rearranged and divided into sections and freely interpreted. To bring its

p. 180

teaching into clear and emphatic notice, quotations have been made from THE AWAKENING OF FAITH SUTRA to provide definitions of the Paramitas and they have been inserted near the head of each section.

As explained in the Preface to the Self-realisation of Noble Wisdom, this Sutra was greatly used from the very beginning by the founders of the Zen Sect concurrently with the LANKAVATARA, but because of the greater difficulties of the latter, it gradually displaced it, and after the Tenth Century was almost exclusively used as its chief Sutra. Its chief teaching that all phenomenal things and definitive ideas are subjective and a manifestation of one's own mind, that even the Scriptures are "empty," largely explains the characteristic tenets of the Zen Sect:

"A special transmission outside the Scriptures;
No dependence upon words and letters;
Direct pointing to one's deepest consciousness;
Seeing into one's nature and the attainment of Buddahood."

The Sutra teaches, according to Max Muller, "In contradistinction to the fallacious phenomena, there is the true essence of mind. Underlying the phenomena of mind, there is an unchanging principle." This is true, but the Sutra also teaches that all good disciples should practice the Paramitas in the light of it.

 


{返回 A Buddhist Bible 文集}
{返回网页版}
{返回首页}

上一篇:The Diamond Sutra - The Diamond Scripture
下一篇:The Lankavatara Sutra - Chapter XIII. Nirvana
 Sutra of Transcendental Wisdom - Su..
 Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Pref..
 Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Chap..
 The Lankavatara Sutra - Chapter III..
 Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Chap..
 Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Chap..
 Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch - Cha..
 The Lankavatara Sutra - Chapter VII..
 The Lankavatara Sutra - Chapter I. ..
 Preface
全文 标题
 
【佛教文章随机阅读】
 空而能现[栏目:刘立千居士文集]
 准提法门的修持介绍(紫虚)[栏目:准提法门概述]
 第二章 庄严道场的佛具 (盖)[栏目:佛教的法器]
 龙树之论空假中[栏目:吴汝钧教授]
 燃烧的愿力,燃烧的凤凰花![栏目:和佛陀赏花去]
 死亡体验与思考[栏目:本性法师·禅思录]
 大乘百法明门论直解 第五讲[栏目:大乘百法明门论直解讲记]
 平兴寺客堂规约[栏目:丛林规约]
 「末法」与「净土念佛得度」考 --由道绰《安乐集》衍生的重要观念之检讨[栏目:温金柯博士]


{返回首页}

△TOP

- 手机版 -
[无量香光·显密文库·佛教文集]
教育、非赢利、公益性的佛教文化传播
白玛若拙佛教文化传播工作室制作
www.goodweb.net.cn Copyrights reserved
(2003-2015)
站长信箱:yjp990@163.com